"I hear you've been looking for me?"

Jair stepped out in full view of the Hyperion pair outside, still wearing his white academy robes, the Institute crest clearly visible over his left thigh.

The two men left off arguing with the servant who'd answered their knock, turning to face him in unison.

"Jair Welburne?"

"Indeed, that's me. You've figured it out." Jair smiled ingratiatingly, falsely. "How can I help you?"

"You're going to have to come with us, young man. We have some very important questions for you."

"He's not going anywhere," Ran interjected, stepping between Jair and the legionnaires. "Any questions you want to ask, you can do it here."

Ran jumping automatically into the role of protector made Jair smile, even if by all rights their positions should be reversed.

"This is none of your concern, young master Serin,” growled the Hyperion guard. “This man has been conspiring with dragons. You'd do well to distance yourself from him if you know what's good for you."

"Conspiring with dragons? Like the one he killed, right in front of me?"

"Exactly." Members of the Hyperion Legion were known for their strength and power, but ability to detect sarcasm apparently didn't make the list.

"Go ahead and ask your questions," Jair replied wearily, before things could get more out of control.

Ran was having none of it.

"This man is not available at this time." Ran stood proud and haughty, channeling every bit of his noble arrogance into a voice that suited someone twenty-ninth in line for the throne who firmly believed everyone should know it. "If you require a meeting, you may arrange it during normal business hours."

"Not to offend, young master Serin, but this man is wanted under suspicion of conspiracy to murder. This isn't something you want to drag your family into."

"I'll be the judge of what I want, thank you."

"It's none of your concern. This man has no affiliation with House Serin at all. Hand him over and everything will be simple."

"Perhaps I don't care for your variety of 'simple'. You're obstructing our entryway. I've told you, he's not coming out. Begone."

"You shouldn't be protecting him, young master Serin. I swear, you'll regret it if you insist on it."

"The Hyperion Legion has jurisdiction, where, again?" Ran asked sharply.

"Vaes City and the surrounding environs," the man answered promptly. "Of which Astralla City is one."

"Not the physical locations, the mandate." Jair had never heard Ran sound so utterly derisive, and found himself smiling, impressed.

The Hyperion guard was less impressed. His scowl deepened, but his partner put out a hand to stop him before he could say anything more.

“Our jurisdiction is anything that threatens the safety of the Royal Family, or could be a threat to the domain.”

“And which of these two is the dead dragon threatening, pray tell?”

“It’s not the dragon that we’re concerned with at the moment, as you know. It’s that man standing behind you. Jair Welburne, directly responsible for the assassination of Garow Firdon.”

“It’s pronounced Ja-ir, by the way,” Jair called out.

“Where were you the night of the eighteenth?”

“Killing a dragon,” Jair answered casually. “It was witnessed by half the Institute.”

“You admit to being present at the time and location of the assassination.” The guard stepped forward. “We’ll need you to come with us.”

“Not happening.”

What followed was the least productive conversation he could possibly have imagined, wherein the clearly ignorant guards continued to ignore reason or truth, trying at every turn to force Jair to come with them to their holding area.

Ran refused to let Jair out of his sight, the Hyperion refused to let Ran come with, Jair refused to move from where he stood, and the argument went around again.

They had their orders - collect him, question him, and bring him back. They weren't going to compromise.

Things got violent, as they tended to do. One grabbed Jair to drag him off, while the other blocked Ran from following.

"What do you think?" Jair called to Ran, putting up only token resistance to being hauled away. "Play it through?"

Ran shook his head. "Not worth it."

Jair smiled in agreement, twisted free of the guard’s grip, and punched the man square in the face with an audible crunch.

It felt incredibly satisfying, fleeting and temporary though it may be, after the stubborn man gave them so much trouble.

“Never going to turn down an excuse to do that, it never gets old.”

The second guard ran over and Jair had just enough time to punch him too before they joined forces to manhandle him into submission.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jair didn’t even try to resist; he couldn’t stop laughing.

As they dragged him away, he closed his eyes to reach inward for his soulspell, and in a flash of golden light, he tumbled backwards through time.

He pushed himself back out of the timeline immediately, landing at the same spot as last time: in the courtyard with Ran just walking away to start arranging for specialists to study Jair’s condition.

Even as he hauled himself free of the temporal freefall, Jair felt the hold starting to slip. Experience told him he'd be able to use the spot once or twice more as long as he was fast, but beyond that he'd end up falling further back.

"Ran, wait," Jair called.

"Don’t think you can talk me out of this."

"It’s not that. The Hyperion are still looking for me. They're going to come here in a few hours. Do you know of anywhere we can hide?"

“Wait, does that mean you just did the…” he waved his hand vaguely to indicate Jair’s time travel.

“Yes. You and I tried to talk to them and see what they wanted, but their orders are from too high up for anything we say to matter. They're not going to let me go. If they find me, they'll drag me off somewhere - by force if we don’t go along willingly.”

“But… this is completely absurd! Any truthseer can confirm that you’re not a murderer, that you had nothing against Professor Firdon and did everything in your power to protect everyone involved. I can back you up. Professor Irres can back you up. There’s no case here.”

Jair snorted a short laugh. “You don’t get out much, do you? Have you seen the world? People like Larenok don’t stay in control without the entire leadership of the continent being complicit. If the king or the higher nobles wanted the corruption to end, they might have a chance to make it happen. Someone like me? No chance.”

“I’m not a child. I know how these things go. But this is beyond ridiculous.”

“So, do you know anywhere I can lie low? My first instinct would be, well, I know how you feel about that.”

“I don’t know of anything like that.” Ran spoke with obvious reluctance. "Can’t you hide out with your own criminal network?"

"It's not much of a network just yet. There's a few places I could go, but right now I don't have enough of a reputation for anyone to be willing to harbor me from the Hyperion. They'd more likely see a way to bolster their own legitimacy by turning me in."

"That's going to be a problem."

Jair grinned at him mischievously. "There is another option, you know."

"Right," Ran snorted. "Are you about to suggest we go hide out on the ghost moon?"

"Exactly. I'd like to see the Hyperion try to follow us there. The Reskas passage may be flooded, but they'll have another Orard connection sooner or later. We can hide out there until we can get in touch with Aethron and get started on your ascension preparations." Playing up that angle should help overcome Ran's reluctance to hide out someplace so desolate and criminally-inclined.

But apparently Ran’s attention was caught on something else. "Reskas is flooded? When did this happen? I only heard they were withdrawing from the coast, not that it was this serious."

"Recently, apparently? I'm sure we'll be able to get more up-to-date news on Terluna."

“Yes.”

“Good. So, until then… we can go to the ghost moon and hire some underworld healers?”

Ran gave him a very unamused look.

Jair grinned at him. “Well, really, what better way to pass the time while hiding from the law than instigating unethical experimentation?”

“You agreed to wait until terluna.”

“But that was before I knew they’d track us down so quickly.” Not that detection was that hard to do, for someone with the right imprints or constructs. Even if he could hide somewhere in the city for a day or two, evading all pursuit, the Hyperion had the connections to search him out wherever he went unless he got some serious distance between them.

He knew that from painful personal experience.

Imagining he could camp out with Ran and pretend everything was fine, in hindsight, had been unbearably naive. Just because he’d escaped one inevitable destiny didn’t mean he could treat things lightly now. This wasn’t a vacation, as much as he’d like to pretend it was.

“And you’re sure you can’t go back and prevent this ever happening?” Ran pressed.

“This again? Aren’t you the one who said being reverted was the same as dying? Do you have a death wish, or would you really prefer being eliminated from existence than deal with one little illicit lunar passage?”

Even as he asked, Jair feared the answer. This had come up a little bit too frequently, and his mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusions. If destiny couldn’t do away with Ran through external means, could it be tampering with him internally? Was that even possible?

“It’s not the passage I’m concerned about, it’s what’s on the other end of it.” Ran narrowed his eyes. “You just keep coming up with excuses to drag me away there. How can I be sure you’re not planning to hold me for ransom?”

Jair laughed. Ran held his haughty pose for a moment longer before his composure cracked and he smiled.

“I’ll consider it,” Ran conceded. “But, before we go anywhere or do anything, we do need to talk to my father.”

That delayed their departure enough that Jair began to worry the Hyperion would come knocking before they could slip away. Thankfully, Ajriol was easier to convince than Jair had anticipated. Ran left the meeting with even more spending money for their trip, as well as a promise to send out missives to recruit anyone of the researcher, healer, or doctor variety that they could find specializing in dragon-related matters.

Despite the delay, they slipped away into the streets without encountering any Hyperion.

The first problem came when they tried to leave the city. The guards who'd only reluctantly let Jair out the last time were even more reticent now, recognizing Ran and concerned that they'd be in trouble with Lord Serin for allowing his son to 'run away'. Jair finally convinced them that the money was worth more than the trouble would cost, but that lost them enough time that he began to worry they'd miss the arrival window.

The second problem came when Jair casually started walking across the sand toward the Sejrilo Oasis, anticipating a sandshark to come by, and Ran balked.

"I told you, not doing that again. Especially not at night. Isn't there another way?"

In all the excitement, Ran’s new claustrophobia had slipped Jair’s mind.

The only official transportation method was the transit platforms. Who needed anything else when you could just instantly go from one location to the other?

Sandfishers used skimmers to carry their equipment and haul the catch, but Jair wasn't sure any were in the area. He'd certainly never met any in this particular section of the timeline. They tended to avoid cities except to trade.

"We can go slowly," Jair suggested hesitantly. "You start walking, I'll escort you in a shark."

Ran glanced longingly back at the city. "Wouldn't it be enough to hide out in the city until they finish searching my house, then go back for the night? We don't need to go anywhere."

"Aside from the fact that it would only prolong the inevitable, getting back into the city won't be as easy as getting out. Besides, we already spent so much on the exit, it'd be a waste not to use it, even if they don't send trackers."

"How are you so hung up on money? Aren't you supposed to be some grand arch-master time overlord?"

Jair shrugged. "Some things are always going to be true. Money spent should be used well, not wasted."

Ran pressed a hand to his forehead. "How has it come to this?" he bemoaned. "You seriously want us to get ourselves eaten, again, then spat out into a den of pirates and criminals, where we'll--"

A shout interrupted. “Stand where you are, by authority of King Farshen!” Two distant figures ran out from the gates, rapidly closing the distance.

Jair looked at Ran.

Ran looked at Jair, then sighed. "Fine. Let's go get eaten."

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